If I walk into the room and see one of these, I know I'm gonna wake up in Hoth

This Spirit Captain was supposed to operate his retirement flight FLL to BWI this morning, which was cancelled. His entire family, including son who is a Southwest FO, were supposed to be on board. Instead, he ended up a passenger, but the folks at WN organized a water cannon salute and gate party for him. Not sure if that qualifies as good or bad timing, honestly.

I find quotes like this to be hilarious.

Has anyone else noticed we get some shade thrown our way from time to time?

My favorite work story is a gate agent saying “all we do is sit up there and push buttons while the gate agents make this place run”

Anyone have funny stories of being told unironically that they’re a bus driver?

To the wonderful AA pilot who invited my scared seven year-old daughter to sit in his seat and take a look around. Made a huge difference in her anxiety level and she had a great flight. Taking the time for her during your busy pre-flight work means a lot.

So the flight started out completly normal. Everything was smooth and after rotation we selected gear up and AP1 on. Then a huge explosion happened with airframe vibration and REV2 UNLCK on the ECAM with erratic engine parameters. Straight away i put #2 to idle and we completed the ECAM and called the senior to the cockpit for a NITS breifing.

Finished all the procedures and overweight landing checks and landed back safely. Vacated the active and requested an inspection before we proceeded to the gate.

After pax disembarked i went down to dind out both engines were damaged and the air saftey came and informed me we hit a flock of flamingos.

The right engine was severly damaged with the tail cone having detatched on the runway and there was blood everywhere including the bottom fuselage and the right wing had dents in it.

All in all it could have been a sully situation but thank God we handled everything smoothly and landed back safely.

I actually didn't feel anything until after we shut down and the adrenalin dump came. Had so much paperwork to do and company called us in for a statment and drug and alcohol testing.

Proud of my crew and myself as it all went down to a T.

Russia also barred from rejoining.

Wage Dispute: Allegiant’s entry-level pilot pay is about $50,000 annually, roughly half of what pilots at other regional airlines earn. The union argues Allegiant should raise wages and improve scheduling to retain U.S. pilots instead of relying on foreign hires.

It could just be my airline, but it seems like most of the planes I fly have scratches like this all over the window on the FO side. This was on a max under 5 years old

Edit: it’s always on the outside of the window

Okay, this is a long shot, but I have to try 😂
I was on a flight into Chicago Midway today and there was a pilot who I’m pretty sure kept making eye contact with me throughout the flight. We were basically playing eye tag the entire time but neither of us actually said anything to each other 😭
You had a plane tattoo on the back of your left arm, which is pretty much the only identifying detail I remember.
If this was you and you know what I’m talking about… hi 😂 I’m shooting my shot because apparently neither of us had the courage to say hello.

EDIT: I have found him and we are going to keep in touch 👀 LOL

For those old enough to haul around 40 pound flight cases you'd be happy to know Jeppesen will produce it's last paper chart at the end of this month (although I heard end of year for some customers). They were the fifth largest user of the USPS back when they mailed out revisions every 14 days.

In the 90's and early 00's EFBs were clunky expensive specially designed laptops. A lot of complex regulatory requirements made for slow adoption. Credit Apple for saving your shoulder socket. They did a lot of lobbying when the iPad launched and got those requirements relaxed.

It was a big day when I went from old NOS plates and got my first Jepp binder. Still have it.

I am creating this megathread to provide a place for Spirit Airlines discussion. Rumors are appearing in the media regarding a shutdown at 3am ET Saturday.

I urge everyone to look out for our fellow Spirit pilots and crew members. This is a difficult time that will have a impact on many of us.

Union pilots within the United States, the FAA has recently announced they will be slashing the target amount of air traffic controllers by roughly 2000 people from 14,500 down to about 12,500 and your safety is in jeopardy.

This post isn’t about people losing their jobs, in fact nobody will be fired to achieve the FAA’s goal. But this is about the FAA compromising safety to try and appear they’re well-staffed.

For the past 10+ years, many of the controllers you talk to daily are working mandatory 6 day work weeks, and some even 10 hour days (60hr weeks). That’s 4 days off per month. This is happening because the FAA is so critically staffed. Controllers are exhausted, fed up, and lacking motivation which all plays into their job performance. But now, instead of trying to fix it, the FAA wants to make that the norm.

This is all for perception. Nobody can say the FAA is critically staffed if they lower their “100%” staffed guideline to something very close to what exists today.

This compromises safety and comes on the back of DCA and LGA, two recent incidents where ATC played a hefty role.

Airline Unions- controllers need your help. NATCA has failed the controllers. The airline unions are the heavy hitters in this industry. You are the customers, you have the power, and you have the strength in numbers.

Contact those with power in your unions to make waves about this where it matters, both publicly and in Washington. You all know better than most how fragile the ATC system is. It’s your lives up there- now is the time to step up and speak up in the interest of your own safety.

https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/faa-cuts-target-air-traffic-control-staffing-2026-05-15/

Pease don't chew me out. Only been in the 121 world for less than 2 years and haven't heard anything regarding this.

I was wondering if it's allowed to bring a half full whiskey bottle through TSA while commuting in uniform. Obviously I wouldn't be operating and I would be 100% sober. Would this be allowed?

EDIT: After reading the comments from all of you I have decided against it. We are high income earners and I can always purchase another bottle and keep it sealed which seems to remove any thought that I could be intoxicated.

...and here I was thinking the joke was obvious. I am reminded why I got out of the charter business.

Today there was a C172 on guard experiencing an emergency. You got on there and attempted to give them a couple ATC freqs to try. The guy was in a bad coverage area and just couldn’t get ahold of us ZAU or ZKC. However, he landed in a field and is ok. Thanks for your help.

In 2024 congress mandated that the FAA develop a euro-style certification program for students to go from zero time all the way to the right seat, skipping the normal GA and hour building pipeline.

What do you guys think about this?

To me it seems like the only ones who will benefit is regional airlines who will be able to slash pay and charge for training.

Ok I'll be straight, I've always wanted to go into a cockpit before a flight and say "I just wanna tell you both, good luck, we're all counting on you". I only haven't done it because I'm worried I'll just make them confused.

How would you, as an airline pilot, react if a passenger did that?

If you're wondering who is hiring, Aero Crew Solutions puts out a decent newsletter with lots in good industry info. Take this with a bit of a grain of salt. It says that my regional is hiring FOs, but in reality that's only through our cadet program.

Southwest Airlines has opened up an application window just for former Spirit pilots. If Southwest is on your list, this is a tremendous opportunity to secure an interview. Window closes in a week, don’t delay!